LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two women in their 70s, dubbed the "Black Widows" of Los Angeles, were sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday for befriending two homeless men and murdering them in hit-and-run-crashes in order to collect $2.8 million (1.4 million pounds) in life insurance.
Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, were convictedin April of murder and conspiracy in a bizarre case with echoesof the 1944 Hollywood movie "Arsenic and Old Lace."
Prosecutors said the women had befriended two homeless menat an Eastern European church, helped them find somewhere tolive, took out life insurance policies on them, and thenarranged to have them killed in hit-and-run car accidents indark alleys.
The men, Paul Vados, 73, and Kenneth McDavid, 50, were runover by cars in different Los Angeles area alleys in 1999 and2005 respectively.
Prosecutors said greed was the motive. The two womencollectively received $2.8 million from life insurance andaccidental death policies they had taken out on the two men bytransferring their signatures onto rubber stamps to use on theforms.
Golay claimed to insurance companies that she was thefiancee of both victims, while Rutterschmidt claimed to be acousin.
The women were arrested in May 2006 on suspicion offraudulently collecting insurance payments. Investigators saidthe women might be responsible for more deaths, saying sixother life insurance policies were not paid out because ofsuspicious circumstances.
The women were charged only with two murders and pleadednot guilty. Prosecutors had not sought the death penalty.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)
